Falling Into a Honey Pot
The gentleman's face lit up with joy and he said, "You two are really lucky! Come with me!"
"Sir, where are we going?" Grace asked.
"Just follow me and you'll see!" The gentleman led them, winding through several corridors, until they arrived at the Manor Alchemy Room.
Grace was utterly surprised to find Byron White already in the alchemy room.
When he saw the two of them, Byron smiled and said, "You're here?"
"President." Both greeted him respectfully.
"Here's the thing—you two are both Level Nine Spiritual Alchemists. I figure the classes you're attending aren't really helping you much anymore, right?"
Both nodded.
"As it happens, I'm currently experimenting with an incomplete ancient formula and need two assistants—so I thought of you!" Byron assumed they'd both be thrilled and deeply grateful.
Unexpectedly, after he finished speaking, he noticed that neither of them showed much emotion.
Ever since Grace discovered Byron looked just like Bianca Whiteshire, she’d been acting like she had a full-blown case of paranoia.
And now, she was convinced his intentions weren’t exactly pure.
So yeah, she just couldn’t bring herself to feel happy about any of this.
Felix Xi, on the other hand… Well, he was born with a poker face. Not an ounce of emotion showed.
"What I mean is, for the time being, I’ll personally be teaching you two," President Byron White said again.
Both of them stared at him, still totally expressionless.
"Aren’t you going to thank the President?" The gentleman was practically embarrassed for their lack of enthusiasm.
"Thank you, President!" they both chimed in, perfectly in sync.
...
What Byron was working on was a ninth-level Soul Restoration Pill, made from an incomplete ancient formula.
The Soul Restoration Pill isn’t some miracle cure that brings people back from the dead—it’s for treating amnesia caused by magical mishaps and demonic energy messing with your brain.
But since the formula’s incomplete, there’s a lot of trial and error involved.
And to even have a shot at refining a test batch, you need some serious talent.
So, the two of them ended up following President Byron, while every other alchemist in the place looked on with envy, jealousy, and a dash of bitterness.
President Byron had them study the formula with him, even taught them how to deduce the missing ingredients from the ancient recipe—he really was teaching them himself.
Hands-on practice like this was a million times better than just sitting around listening to lectures.
Still... Grace couldn’t shake the feeling that Byron was up to something.
Whenever Byron wasn’t around, Grace would sidle up to Felix Xi and nudge his arm, "Hey! Felix, seriously, the best spiritual alchemists from all over Eastwild have gathered in the Alliance. We’re surrounded by geniuses, and everyone’s competing. Why do you think the President picked us two newbies to help him out?"
Felix Xi just kept stoking the fire, focused on pill refining, not saying a word.
"Say something, will you?" Grace pressed.
Felix Xi still didn’t say a word.
"You say less than three sentences a day. Don’t you feel all bottled up?"
Felix Xi: "No."
Grace: "...Well, I feel bottled up! Can’t you just talk to me for a bit?"
Felix Xi finally said, "Don’t bother me."
Grace: "..."
...
To outsiders, following President Byron seemed like Grace and Felix Xi had just fallen into a honey pot—pure luck!
But only Grace knew how nerve-wracking it really was.
Byron White was a Level Fifteen Alchemist, his cultivation unfathomable—way out of Grace’s league.
If he wanted to kill her, there’d be nothing she could do to stop him.
So, every day, she stuck close to Felix Xi, doing everything she could to avoid being alone with Byron.
Even when Felix Xi went to the restroom, she’d find an excuse to tag along.
But there were only three of them in the alchemy room.
Eventually, there was no way to avoid being alone with Byron.
One day, Byron sent Felix Xi to the storeroom to fetch two ingredients.
That left only Byron and Grace in the alchemy room.